Discover Your Core Values
The ability to make decisions that are in line with your principles is bolstered by knowing your values, which can boost your self-assurance. It might be helpful to consider your values when making job decisions or deciding whether to make a career move. It takes time and introspection to figure out what you truly value.
What are core values?
People’s actions are guided by their core values, which are the beliefs that matter most to them. People who place a premium on honesty, for instance, are more likely to be punctual and gravitate toward like principled companions.
One’s values are a compass that helps direct one’s actions, and they may also be used by businesses to gauge how well they’re doing.
There are many elements, such as one’s financial standing, one’s environment, and one’s upbringing, that might influence a person’s prioritization of values. It’s possible that some people place a higher importance on independence than others do on ease of living. Examples of distinct value types include the following:
Personal values: These are the principles that individuals demonstrate in their daily actions and that they place the highest importance on. Imagination, modesty, integrity, compassion, selflessness, and friendship are all possibilities.
Relationship values: These values reveal how a person interacts with others, including friends, family, peers, and coworkers. Relationship ideals include trust, generosity, empathy, and open dialogue.
Societal values: Illustrate how an individual or organization interacts with society. To name only a few examples of societal values: accountability, environmental consciousness, fairness, dignity, individual rights, community, and social responsibility.
Values in the workplace help give businesses direction, which in turn improves how they treat their staff and clients. Teamwork, efficiency, creativity, selflessness, and dedication are all examples of values that may be found in successful organizations.
Where do our core values come from?
Your upbringing, culture, and personal history all play a role in shaping the values you hold dear. Childhood is a formative time for forming beliefs, which can vary greatly from one person to the next and from one place to another.
Parents, other family members, teachers, mentors, and religious leaders are often the source of a person’s core views. Perhaps they will develop and evolve as you gain wisdom from your own life experiences.
There are many potential sources of impact on one’s views and values, and these may shift and evolve as one age. When you’re young, you might place a high premium on having a good time, but as you get older and take on more duties at work, you might start to place a higher premium on getting things done.
What significance do values hold?
Your views, ideas, and behaviors can all be shaped by your values. Because of them, you can be yourself and act appropriately in a wide range of social situations.
They are distinct from both short- and long-term objectives in that they are not tied to a particular time frame or circumstance. Knowing what you believe and why can help you make the judgments that are most sensible for you, even if you aren’t always conscious of your values.
In addition to bolstering your self-assurance throughout the interview process, being clear on your core values can help you land a job that better reflects your ideals.
If you value stability in your life and career, it may be best to look for a job where you can expect to perform similar tasks on a regular basis, have the same schedule every day, and work in a similar office setting. If you need a lot of mental challenges, consider a career that involves frequent travel and a wide range of tasks.
Advantages of determining your values
Learning about your own personal values as a young adult can help you make better judgments and shape you into the kind of person you hope to be in your professional life. Finding out what you truly value will help you in many ways:
Identifying Core values can help you solve problems.
Learning about what you care about most might help you deal with difficult situations, which can hinder your capacity to think clearly and make sound judgments.
Think about how you can make a decision based on your principles when you’re faced with a difficult scenario.
It’s human nature to want to jump to conclusions, but pausing to consider your principles first can help you make a decision that is both practical and true to your beliefs.
If selflessness is a highly valued trait of yours and you come across a person in need, assisting them may boost your self-esteem because you’ve had the opportunity to put your values into practice.
Having a set of values might help you prioritize.
If you can narrow your attention to a handful of core beliefs, you can eliminate the clutter from your life that isn’t serving you and make room for the things that will help you grow into the person you were meant to be.
Pay close attention to the decisions you make on a daily basis and establish a list of the things that are most important to you; this will help you determine what these things are. Your time may become more valuable as you develop a deeper awareness of your ideals.
Confidence is something that can be fostered by embracing one’s values.
Possessing a healthy dose of confidence can set you up for success during job interviews and once you’ve landed the job. Having faith in your own judgment increases along with your self-awareness as you come to terms with your own values and principles.
Having faith in yourself can help you tackle difficult challenges, such as those you could face in a job interview or on the job. It can also improve your interactions with others in your immediate environment, such as your friends, coworkers, and superiors.
Your professional prospects can benefit from your values.
There are a lot of decisions you’ll have to make throughout your career, and they could have varying effects on your personal and professional life. Not only can knowing your values help you pick a fulfilling profession, but it can also improve your decision-making at work and smooth the way for a smoother transition in the event that you decide to switch jobs.
A life of freelancing or entrepreneurship may appeal to those who place a premium on autonomy. A job in teaching or research could be a good fit for those who consider it important to learn new things throughout their lives. Getting a job can be a step toward figuring out what’s important to you and moving in that direction, which might help you identify your values.
Guide to define your core values
1. Make a list of your principles.
Think over the examples of basic values I gave above and make a list of all the ones that ring true for you. Include any that you can think of that aren’t already there. Please choose the values that best represent how you feel about or act.
2. You should think about the people you look up to the most.
Individuals we look up to and care about often serve as role models for the values we hold. It’s common knowledge that if we admire a certain trait in another person, it’s because we hold that value highly. List the names of six persons who have inspired you or served as valuable contacts.
Consider including a coworker who has shown exceptional commitment and resilience, for instance. A member of the family who is empathetic can be a good choice.
Also, make an effort to incorporate any heroes you have in your life. You may look up to Martin Luther King, Jr. for the way he cared about others and fought for equality in society. Take into account the ethics exemplified by these six individuals.
3. Reflect on past encounters.
Reflect on your life’s most meaningful and challenging experiences to gain insight into your core principles. Think about how these events have affected your essential beliefs.
If you’re a teacher who won an award, for instance, you could place a premium on inspiring those around you and taking the lead. It’s possible that you value empathy and compassion so much because of a traumatic event you’ve had.
4. Sort values into categories that make sense.
You now have a comprehensive catalog of prices. Examine the data and see if there are any obvious clusters you can use to classify the items. It’s possible that you listed concepts like “development,” “learning,” and “growth” as examples.
There is a close connection between these values, making it possible to lump them together. As another illustration, suppose you decided on the traits of constancy, dependability, and promptness. All of these estimates could be lumped into the same category.
5. Determine the overarching concept.
After you’ve broken your values into categories, pick a single term, to sum up, each category. If you want to provide further context for the core value, you can leave the other words in the group in parenthesis next to the central theme word.
6. Determine your most fundamental beliefs and principles
Please prioritize the most salient values. Although everyone has a different number of essential beliefs, it’s usually most effective to identify and prioritize five to ten.
If you have more than 10, you might want to consider which ones are most important to you. If you want to be sure they accurately represent your most important values and are listed in the proper sequence, you might want to set them aside for a day and return to them the next.
Advice for responding to value-based interview questions
Listed below are some strategies for deftly handling inquiries about personal values:
Take a look at the company’s morals
Values questions are asked during interviews to see whether or not your personality and work ethic are compatible with those of the organization. The company’s key principles may be found on its website, so have a look before your interview to ensure you’re prepared to talk about them.
Recognize the importance of humility
It’s important to avoid coming out as arrogant while talking to interviewers about your skills and experience; instead, strive to be pleasant and thankful.
Pay attention to them and take them seriously
It’s easy to get caught up in the technical questions, but remember that many employers also care a great deal about how effectively you embody the company’s culture and values.
Explain by citing specific instances.
Make sure you back up your claims with concrete examples of how you’ve put your ideals into effect in the real world.